Improved survival for adolescents and young adults with Hodgkin lymphoma and continued high survival for children in the Netherlands: a population-based study during 1990–2015

Abstract

Population-based studies that assess long-term patterns of incidence, major aspects of treatment and survival are virtually lacking for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) at a younger age. This study assessed the progress made for young patients with HL (<25 years at diagnosis) in the Netherlands during 1990–2015. Patient and tumour characteristics were extracted from the population-based Netherlands Cancer Registry. Time trends in incidence and mortality rates were evaluated with average annual percentage change (AAPC) analyses. Stage at diagnosis, initial treatments and site of treatment were studied in relation to observed overall survival (OS). A total of 2619 patients with HL were diagnosed between 1990 and 2015. Incidence rates increased for 18–24-year-old patients (AAPC + 1%, P = 0·01) only. Treatment regimens changed into less radiotherapy and more ‘chemotherapy only’, different for age group and stage. Patients aged 15–17 years were increasingly treated at a paediatric oncology centre. The 5-year OS for children was already high in the early 1990s (93%). For patients aged 15–17 and 18–24 years the 5-year OS improved from 84% and 90% in 1990–1994 to 96% and 97% in 2010–2015, respectively. Survival for patients aged 15–17 years was not affected by site of treatment. Our present data demonstrate that significant progress in HL treatment has been made in the Netherlands since 1990.